Open Source (free) Software

Table of Contents

  • Alicehttp://www.alice.org/ - awesome object oriented programming language
  • ArtRage (Starter Edition) – http://www.ambientdesign.com/artragedown.html- paint program
  • Audacity - http://audacity.sourceforge.net/ - Sound recorder and editor that exports to mp3 for podcasting.
    Audacity Quick Reference
  • Avast - http://www.avast.com/eng/avast_4_home.html - free home anti-virus software.
  • Blender - http://blender.org – 3d modeling and animation program. You can create your very own movies like “Toy Story” if you’re good
  • Celestia - http://www.shatters.net/celestia/ – is like “Google Earth” for the solar system. You can choose a location and “fly to” a planet, follow a planet or comet around the sun, etc. Obviously only applicable for science but it’s very fun (though navigation takes some getting used to).
  • CMap – concept mapping program like Inspiration
  • CutePDF - free PDF converter
  • Eclipse Crossword - http://www.eclipsecrossword.com/ - Create an interactive crossword puzzle and export to a single HTML file that can be published to the web or played in a browser.
  • Firefox - web browser
  • FreeMind - http://freemind.sourceforge.net/wiki/index.php/Main_Page – like a free version of “Inspiration”
  • GIMP – the GNU Image Manipulation Program, like a fully-featured but free version of Photoshop (some would say better).
  • GnuPlot - http://www.gnuplot.info – great graphing tool, anything from simple equations to complex 3d topographies
  • Graph - http://www.padowan.dk/graph/ – graph plotting software
  • Inkscape - http://www.inkscape.org – like a free version of Adobe Illustrator.
  • Irfanviewhttp://www.irfanview.com/ - Easy to use image editor and batch image conversion tool. Also creates panoramic images.
  • JAlbum – build a digital album
  • K9 Web Protection – I recommend this free home internet filter to all of our families
  • MathTrax – equation plotter, sound component, even does polar equations
  • Molecular toolkit – manipulate nucleic acid and protein sequence data.
  • Monkey Jam – an animation program
  • Moodle – classroom management system
  • Movie Maker II – Windows video editing program
  • Nvu - http://www.nvu.com/index.php -A good (free) web editing program
  • OpenOffice (“free” version of Microsoft Office, with support of MS Office documents)
  • Openaudit - http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=80774 - Open source network inventory tool
  • PDF Creator -
  • Phet – science simulations
  • Photostory - http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/digitalphotography/photostory/default.mspx
    Photostory, a free software program, enables students and teachers to create and share multimedia stories effectively and easily. Begin by importing digital photos, scanned work, Powerpoint slides, computer-generated artwork or other digital images. Easily add text captions, audio narration, photo-effects, timings, transitions and motion-effects, as well as a musical score in a few easy steps.
    Photostory_Quick_Reference
  • Picasa – photo organizer
  • Royalty Free Music - Incompetech FreePlayMusic Jamendo
  • Scratch – programming language
  • Sketchup (Google) – build, view and edit 3D models
  • Stellarium (http://www.stellarium.org/) – this is like having a planetarium on your computer. You can select your location and it will display the sky and all the stars, constellations, planets, etc. as you see them in real time. If you’ve ever walked outside at night and wondered what a particular star was, where a particular constellation was, etc. then Stellarium is for you. It is obviously great for science but English courses studying mythology can use it to find mythological constellations, etc.
  • Thunderbird - e-mail reader
  • Turbo Cash – open source personal finance software
  • Tux Paint - http://www.tuxpaint.org/ - a free paint program for very young kids (3 years old and up)
  • Tux Typing - http://tuxtype.sourceforge.net/ - a cute free typing program for elementary school kids
  • Winkhttp://www.debugmode.com/wink/ - Wink is a Tutorial and Presentation creation software, primarily aimed at creating tutorials on how to use software (like a tutor for MS-Word/Excel etc). Using Wink you can capture screenshots, add explanations boxes, buttons, titles etc and generate a highly effective tutorial for your users. Export to Flash and play in a web browser.